Blockchain Travel Service to Offer Hotels 20 Percent Cheaper Than on Booking.com or AirBnb

The Europe-based company LockTrip wants to put the accommodation industry on the blockchain by creating "The first functional blockchain-based travel service." The team says it already offers 100,000 hotels and more than 1,500 vacation rentals all over the world, with an average discount of almost 20 percent when compared to other booking sites - and with plans to add an additional 300,000 hotels and 900 airlines to its marketplace by end of January 2019.Smart contract travel booking.

To make the booking process easier for users who are unfamiliar with blockchain, the startup has created a service model that allows an instant connection between credit cards and the company's ERC-20 LOC token.

The company says booking through their marketplace is much more affordable and secure for the guests when compared to traditional ways of making reservations, in which the customer risks not getting the service that has already been paid for.

"Users either way end up staying in the same hotel, regardless of the site through which they booked it. Paying 20 percent on top of a costly budget just for few clicks will soon be a thing of the past."

According to the company's published report, the current average price for hotels on the LockTrip marketplace is approximately 20 percent lower than the cheapest alternatives users can find online.

LockTrip says the service helps users save up to 17 percent when booking hotels in Europe and more than 23 percent in the United States.

LockTrip notes that popular websites like Airbnb or Booking.com charge hotels a 15 to 30 percent commission, which later effects the final price for guests.

According to the company's report, in 2018 the number of bookings via LockTrip increased more than 10 times and booking volume at the end of the year increased more than 152 percent.

The startup plans to offer its users a zero percent commission for the new service, which will make the prices cheaper than what competitors offer.

After completing the integration of the 300,000 hotels and 900 airlines, the company plans to officially switch from beta to retail-ready and to focus on marketing their services to travelers who are interested in cutting their accommodation costs.